EDMONTON -- As people increased their online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Calgary man saw an opportunity for a business — and to showcase Alberta products.
Ryan Corry created localshops.com to cater to Alberta shoppers and support local businesses when they needed it most.
"A lot of that money was leaving the community," Corry told CTV News Edmonton.
"We want to compete directly with Amazon but with all local products…if you look around in the weeds of your own community, all of these same products lie within us so it's just a matter of aggregating them, making it easy to find for the consumers."
The online marketplace — which includes items such as clothing, beer and art — currently has products from Edmonton and Calgary but already plans to expand to other Alberta communities.
The co-founder of Omma's Kimchi, Alyssa Lau, told CTV News she jumped at the chance to have her products on Made in Local Shops.
"I'm actually very interested to see if this will increase our local exposure," she said.
"I understand how powerful local support is, especially from Edmonton, and Edmonton is such a great city to have a local business in because they’re so willing to support their local businesses."
Corry is also thinking about including a "SkipTheDishes" element where drivers deliver these products to your doorstep as soon as possible.
For Courtney Hanak, the owner of William Raw Designs, having your products online, especially during a pandemic, is a must.
"People who might not have heard of us will maybe have heard about this website…it's just another avenue for customers, clients and just more business."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson
